Creating a Career Community

By Kyle Hobstetter on July 15, 2019

TU’s Career Center is well on its way to becoming a world-class resource for students and prospective employers alike.

Last year, after a review of best practices from around the country and a retreat with TU stakeholders, the Career Center developed its Career Communities program, which provides students with a dedicated career coach and external relations coordinator to prepare them for careers in their chosen professions. 

The STEM Career Community, the first career community, was introduced for the fall 2018 academic term. The Career Center staff hope it will be the first of six eventual embedded career services. 

“This is paving the way toward our goal of a lifelong, world-class career center,” says TU President Kim Schatzel. “The opportunities that are being created for both faculty and students are unparalleled and helping to establish TU as a talent pipeline for cutting-edge STEM industries.”

Helping to initiate TU’s program is Matthew Smith, who serves as the community’s career coach, and Alyssa Sapia, the community’s external outreach coordinator.

Smith works directly with students, the faculty and student groups to help students explore STEM career options. He offers advice with resumes, cover letters, job search strategy, career path exploration, mock interviews, salary negotiation and any other career development issues. 

“I help students understand the resources they have here and what they can take advantage of for free,” Smith says. “We want them to come away with career readiness competencies, networks, and information technology.” 

Learn more about Towson University's STEM Programs

Smith also coordinates “Coffee with the Coach” events that provide a friendly, low-key atmosphere in which students can meet TU alumni with first-hand knowledge and experience in the careers they’re considering.

Cory Anderson, assistant director of career communities, says a TU senior told him she wished she’d someone like Smith to guide her earlier in her academic career. 

“I think that speaks volumes about the impact the career community model is having,” Anderson says.

“ The opportunities that are being created for both faculty and students are unparalleled and helping to establish TU as a talent pipeline for cutting-edge STEM industries ”

While Smith prepares students for the future, Sapia works with companies along the I-95 corridor, encouraging them to look to TU for talent in all STEM-related industries. 

It’s not just about building relationships with employers:  Sapia also maintains, cultivates and develops relationships with TU alumni in STEM fields, seeking out those who could serve as mentors to students. 

It’s through building these connections that Sapia has seen the external STEM community get excited about becoming more involved with TU.

“Companies are anxious to work with us and to recruit our students,” Sapia says. “I think it’s about building those connections, letting the students know about the opportunities out there and how we can do that kind of matchmaking.”

While her goal has been bringing more companies to TU, she’s also been focusing on taking students to the prospective employers. This past year she took students to visit Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cisco, the Emerging Technology Center in downtown Baltimore, and The Grid innovation space at the University of Maryland BioPark.  

Through these experiences, they got to meet future peers and mentors while learning what they need to know to enter a professional STEM field. It also helps them learn about the different jobs they can get with a STEM degree.

Sapia hopes these site visits help students understand that the STEM field is constantly changing and to identify the skills they’ll need to adapt. 

“Things are changing so rapidly that I don’t know if students necessarily know what they should be looking for, or the titles of positions they should be looking for, or what companies are actually doing and how they fit in,” Sapia says. “So there is an education too about what’s out there and how to be prepared for it.

“I think it’s great to bring students to see the different work spaces and show them the different jobs they can get with a STEM degree.” 

Along with receiving positive responses from both students and external companies, the campus community is also taking notice. 

Other TU colleges and programs are taking notice and waiting patiently for their own career communities. Last year, the Career Center announced the Media, Arts and Communication (MAC) Career Community.

With the implementation of more Career Communities, Smith and Sapia agree that no matter the major, it’s never too early for students to start looking for opportunities and planning for their futures. 

They are also hoping that students take advantage of their Career Community and of everything else TU can offer them.

“The earlier you start that journey, and take advantage of what is being offered and take some risks and chances, you really are setting a course for success,” Sapia says. We have a tremendous amount of resources we can offer students in a tremendous amount of ways.”

This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel’s priorities for Towson University:  Lifelong Career Center.